NVIDIA GeForce GTX 980 Ti Review: A Cheaper Titan X Arrives
Our Summary and Conclusion
Performance Summary: The GeForce GTX 980 Ti performed very well throughout our entire battery of tests. If you took the time to inspect its specifications and features, you were probably expecting something that performed similarly to a Titan X, and that is exactly what NVIDIA delivered. The GeForce GTX 980 Ti finished every tests only a couple of percentage points behind the Titan X, making it easily the second fastest single-GPU powered graphics card on the market. The GeForce GTX 980 Ti’s power consumption was also just below the Titan X’s. And the card also overclocked well, hitting over 1370MHz in our tests.
When the GeForce GTX Titan X hit, many clamored that its 12GB of memory, save for some extreme corner cases, was overkill and needlessly increased the price of the card. Depending on your perspective, that may or may not be true. Regardless, halving that to 6GB hits somewhat of a sweet spot that accommodates 1440P and 2160P resolutions well. Disable a couple of SMs in the GPU, and you end up with a graphics card that’s almost as fast as a Titan X, but price at a point that’s much more attainable.Starting today, the GeForce GTX 980 Ti should be made available at price points hovering around $649. As an added benefit, that price will also include a bundled copy of Batman: Arkham Knight. And since the GTX 980 Ti is a new addition to NVIDIA’s product lineup, the company is making some other price moves as well. The original GTX 980 is dropping down to the $499 spot.
Overall, there’s a lot to like about the GeForce GTX 980 Ti. When I concluded my Titan X coverage, I said “The GeForce GTX Titan X forces gamers that can afford a product of this type to evaluate more than just performance. It is the fastest single-GPU, bar none. But it is not the fastest GPU configuration available for about $1000. Should you value framerates above all else, the Titan X may not be for you. But if you also take noise, power consumption, form factor, and compatibility into consideration, suddenly the Titan X become more appealing. The decision will ultimately depend on what you value most in a killer gaming rig.”
The GeForce GTX 980 Ti is a notch behind the Titan X in terms of performance, but that sentiment rings true in a direct comparison with the Radeon R9 295X2. We suspect the 980 Ti’s power, noise, form factor, and single-GPU configuration benefits over a 295X2 will be plenty to entire hardcore gamers, however. This is one sweet graphics card.
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